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Benedict Valda
Benedict Valda was one of the Regents of the Warehouse. He might have been categorized as the Regents’ “attack dog” as he had spearheaded the Regent inquisition conducted for Arthur Nielsen, was a seemingly constant critic of the Warehouse's agents (and to a lesser extent, even its Caretaker). Regardless of his cynical disposition, he was completely committed to his work for the Warehouse. Valda was also the Regents' expert on Warehouse 2 and led agents Pete Lattimer, Myka Bering, and H. G. Wells through it until his death in an act of self-sacrifice, a choice which made it possible for the others to continue and complete the mission, thereby saving both Warehouse 13 and, by extension its current caretaker, Mrs. Frederic. History Season 1 Valda appeared in Breakdown as one of the many Regents present to interrogate Artie Nielson about the present performance of the Warehouse’s agents and reprimands Artie for his disbelief that the Regents were just “normal people.” Thought Artie assumes their displeasure is aimed at Myka Bering and Pete Lattimer and rises to their defense, Valda explains that Artie and his former partner, James MacPherson, that are actually the ones who are under investigation. At the diner, Valda continues the interrogation on non-MacPherson issues and Mrs. Frederic advises Artie to go along. Artie agrees that he helped Claudia Donovan based on his promise and Valda notes that he's letting his personal issues interfere in Warehouse affairs. When Mrs. Frederic notes that Artie's recovery rate has been sterling, Valda asks why Artie involved Daniel Dickinson in the highest of top secret affairs. Artie insists it was necessary but Valda warns that his future is at stake. Artie’s patience runs thin with the session and forcefully insists that MacPherson has something terrible planned and they needed to deal with it. However, Valda maintains the position that Artie is simply using that threat to justify his own rule-breaking. Artie points out that MacPherson knows the rules and he would have to break the rules to stop him, only to realize that the Regents are actually afraid of MacPherson. Having had enough to the debriefing, Artie demands that they either fire him, kill him, or allow him to do their job and storms out. Afterward, Valda and the Regents would allow Artie to continue hunting down MacPherson. Season 2 In Beyond Our Control, Valda is summoned by Mrs. Frederic to help Leena, who is experiencing side-effects from being under the control of the Pearl of Wisdom. He explains to Leena that MacPherson may have left something behind when he was altering her consciousness. To aid them in identifying what it could be, he brings an associate, Taka. Valda has Taka reinsert the Pearl into Leena to probe her memories and discover more about MacPherson's plans. Unlike Mrs. Frederic, Valda is willing to push Leena for answers, which leads to Mrs. Frederic to taking over the process. In Around the Bend, Valda is introduced to Pete, Myka, and Claudia. He becomes the subject of Pete's paranoid delusion, caused by Telegraph from Telegraph Island. Under the belief that Valda had malicious intent toward the Warehouse and its agents, Pete sought to defeat him and protect his loved ones. He captured Valda and strung him up, but as the delusion intensified, it became harder for Pete to differentiate the delusion from reality. Once he experienced sensory overload and his mind reset, Valda was freed by Artie. In Buried, Warehouse 2 is reactivated by a secret archaeological dig. This affects Mrs. Frederic as the current Caretaker of the Warehouse, uttering "The penalty is death" in demotic (the language of Ancient Egypt) and having spasmodic flashes due to the divided bond between the warehouses. To prevent the previous Warehouse from overloading and killing Mrs. Frederic, Pete, Myka, Helena Wells go to Alexandria, Egypt with Valda, who is the Regents’ expert on Warehouse 2. At the site of the deceased men who had activated the ancient Warehouse, Valda and Pete discover a map leading them to the lost site. Valda explains that in Warehouse 2 mythology, one phrase appears continuously: "Mind, body, soul," and that only the ancient Warehouse agents knew how to navigate the deadly traps that had been activated. Valda has access to an ancient Ankh key, one of the few things that had been originally preserved from Warehouse 2, and it is the only item they have to shut down the ancient Warehouse. After neutralizing the trap on the entrance, they are confronted by more traps devised to kill intruders. After understanding that "Mind, body, soul" hints at solutions to each trap, they are eventually confronted by body puzzle. Understanding that one of their group must die to succeed in this stage, Valda gives Pete the key and sacrifices himself in order for Pete, Myka, and Helena to get to the next stage. Season 4 Thought Valda did not appear, his voice was heard on a recording of an interview with the recently deceased Leena regarding her acceptance of her role at the Warehouse. Valda questioned as to whether Leena understood the danger and responsibilities that came with her new position, to which Leena explained that she not only understood and accepted the consequences, but was willing to risk her life for the betterment of the world. Season 5 Alternate Reality When Paracelsus was de-bronzed and achieved immortality, he gathered various artifacts and used them to the perfect the design of time-travel. Using his new success, he traveled back in time and became the Caretaker of every Warehouse for over 500 years from 9 to 13. In this new reality, scientific innovation had become the primary objection of the Warehouse; its great advancement in technology, however, stemmed from and its practices with artifacts on people, a cruel practice which disregarded ethical and moral values. Alternate-Valda is both alive and still employed in this Warehouse and is addressed by Paracelsus as “Major Valda.” After Artie was captured by Paracelsus, Alternate-Valda inspected Artie’s Bag and discovers one of Louis XIV's Silverware Forks. Alternate-Valda was ignorant of the fork’s properties until Pete and Myka restored their original timeline; this erased Paracelsus’s darker version except for Alternate-Valda, who was preserved by his stolen fork. Restored Reality Now existing in the original timeline, Alternate-Valda took up residence in the original Valda’s room, which was housed in the Warehouse's Personnel Quarters Archives. From his position, Alternate-Valda spied on Artie and his team whilst planning to retake the Warehouse and recreate it under Paracelsus’ advancement vision, except his involved more warfare profits. First, Valda got the Mason Compass from the Isle of the Widow's Son and hid it inside the Warehouse. Then, Valda took the Mason Square, both the Square and Compass being part of Hiram Abiff's Tools. Second, Valda kidnapped Claire; knowing from the original Valda's files that Claudia is destined to become the next Caretaker of Warehouse 13, Valda determined the best person to become Caretaker of his Warehouse would be Claudia's older sister Claire. Valda learned where Claire was from spying on Claudia and Artie and reading Claire's medical records. After kidnapping Claire, Valda woke her up out of her coma and used Chester Moore Hall's Achromatic Lens on her so she'd be under his control and couldn't use her telekinesis against him. Third, Valda went to the Regent Vault, gaining access to it by killing Mr. Keeler with Vyasa's Jade Elephant. Valda then stole the handle for the Setting Maul with the key for its' safety deposit box that he got from the original Valda's room. Before leaving the vault, Valda left behind Sir William Parry's Inukshuk to slow down Artie and the others, knowing they were surely on his trail by now. Fourth, Valda then visited a city park to demonstrate to Chinese government agents the power of artifacts. Valda activated Oliver Sacks' Record Player, which he took from the Regent Chatelet when he kidnapped Claire, which caused every person in the park to slip into a coma at the same time. Valda then handed the Mason Square to the Chinese agents before leaving the park with the record player still active. Valda set another trap to hinder Artie and the others — the record he put on the record player was Chuck Yeager's Favorite LP, which produces a sonic boom whenever someone goes near it, making it difficult to neutralize the artifact before the record player starts killing people. Fifth, at the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston, Valda killed the Regent guarding the hammer of the Setting Maul and then ordered Claire to use her telekinesis to bury Claudia, Pete, and Myka, who had finally caught up with him, alive. As soon as Valda reattached the hammer to its handle, the Mason Compass, which he hid inside the Warehouse, began converting all of Warehouse 13 into pure energy. Sixth, Valda boarded the Chinese embassy's private jet to Beijing. Valda's master plan had finally reached its climax. Valda made a deal with the Chinese that he would move the Warehouse to China, and as long as they placed him in charge of the new Warehouse 14, he will provide the Chinese government with new weapons and technology that will develop as a result of his work with artifacts. The Mason Square was placed under the Beijing National Olympic Stadium which they intended to be the home of Warehouse 14. Even after Claire broke free of Valda's control, this didn't stop his plans completely as he decided without Claire he'll just have to improvise and become Caretaker of Warehouse 14 himself. However, before Valda could strike Warehouse 14's cornerstone with the Setting Maul, Pete snagged the fork Valda stole and neutralized it, which instantly erased Valda from existence in this timeline. Myka then broke the Setting Maul into two pieces again in order to return the Warehouse to South Dakota. Trivia Benedict valda134.jpg|Original Valda Valdanew.png|Alternate Valda warehouse 14.jpg|doors to Valda's Warehouse 14 valda 14.JPG|Valda holding setting maul * As Pete says that the Warehouse "attracts the same people no matter what", and the similar personalities and personal histories of Hugo Miller and Vanessa Calder in Paracelsus' alternate timeline, it may imply that the original Valda was much more evil than he let on. ** However, the severe dissonance between the original Valda's and alternate Valda's personalities seems much more drastic than the other characters', and may be an oversight by the writers that means nothing for the former. * If any significance may be imputed to his naming, then he is "well said" or "well spoken", a blessing in fact (Benedict, derived from the Latin bene, being interpreted, "good", and dictio, the perfect past participle of dico "speak", being interpreted, "speech", although the word itself means "blessing" or "blessed", as in "benediction", being a blessing originally delivered by speech, but then expanded by means of metonymy to blessing in general, such as the Catholic "Apostolic Benediction", given by the Pope to certain individuals and colleagues in the Episcopacy''A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin'', John F Collins, relevant Old Catholic Encyclopedia articles.), implying that his views should be taken into serious consideration. Along with Mr. Kosan, he seems to be a figure to whom most of the other Regents "naturally" defer, although he and Jane Lattimer are never seen together. Additionally, his surname "Valda", a feminine name of Germanic origin, means "power; rule", a reference to his status as a Regent. Appearances Season One *''Breakdown'' Season Two *''Beyond Our Control'' *''Around the Bend'' *''Buried '' Season Four *''Parks and Rehabilitation'' (voice only; uncredited) Season Five *''Endless Terror'' (uncredited) *''Cangku Shisi'' References